


A Fair Price

by TwinEnigma



Category: Under the Red Hood, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Once Upon a Time Fusion, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Prompt Fill, Young Justice Anon Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-09
Updated: 2012-05-09
Packaged: 2018-04-01 19:23:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 5,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4031704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwinEnigma/pseuds/TwinEnigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, there was a prince who became a father. A Gotham fairytale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**1.** _  
_

_Once upon a time, there was a kind king and queen who were loved by all. They had a handsome son and their kingdom prospered in peace and happiness for many years._

_But they had enemies, those jealous of their joy, and they called out to the darkness to destroy them._

_The darkness teemed and roiled, until, at last, the great Demon King himself appeared before them and said: "Aye, that I may do, but for a price."_

_"Gladly, we shall pay it," they said._

_"Give me one of your men. Dress him in rags and haircloth and leave him unshorn."_

_"This we shall do, Great Dark One," they said._

_And the pact was struck._

* * *

Bruce Wayne prefers to try and remember his parents the way they were and not as he remembers them on that accursed night. He knows, of course, that they were humanitarians, contributing to charitable causes and championing human rights and healthcare within Gotham and the greater world at large. He remembers sitting awkwardly through charity galas, waiting for the first moment to slip away, and watching eagerly at the window for the towncar to return from the airport with his parents. Instead, he remembers the blood and tissue spraying across his face and chest, his mother's pearls hitting the pavement, and the way they seemed to hang suspended in the air for a moment before finally falling.

His only consolation is that the homeless man who killed them, Joe Chill, will never get out of prison.


	2. 2

**2.** _  
_

_Without the king and queen, the kingdom fell to its enemies and the little prince was forced to flee. He travelled for many days, without so much as seeing a living thing until one day._

_On the road, the prince came upon an old man. The old man was bent and hobbled, struggling with a basket._

_"What ho, old man? Be you well?" the boy prince asked._

_"I am a traveler, as yourself, but I am weary and my bones are brittle and my house at the top of the mountain is ever so far," the old man said._

_"Then I shall help you," the prince said and picked up the old man and his basket. They were as light as feathers, but the closer he got to the house, the heavier they both became. Still, he did not complain and pushed on, until they arrived at last._

_The old man thanked the boy prince profusely and offered him anything within his power to give._

_"I want justice for my parents and my kingdom," the prince said._

_The old man said, "And justice you shall have, if you but live with me for these seven years and do all that I say."_

_The prince agreed and the bargain was struck._

* * *

Bruce is overseas when he learns that Joe Chill has been released from jail in exchange for testimony against the Marconi Crime Family. It drives him mad with a black fury unlike anything he's ever known and he heads out into the night, recklessly searching for a fight.

He finds one in a bar in Dubai.

And at the end, when it has taken ten cops to subdue him and he sits in a sweltering jail, an older man appears.

"I'm impressed. You fight very well," the man says, "But you could fight better."

Bruce glares at him.

"The problem is that you lack a purpose," the man says.

Bruce grunts, growls, and when he finds his voice, it's a scratchy mess: "I have a purpose."

"Oh?" the man asks. "And what is that?"

"Justice," he breathes, though the word feels and tastes slick-black with vengeance.

The older man, if he senses it, does not seem to care and smiles at him, pressing a slip of paper through the bars. "Tell you what, young man, when you get out of here, come to the top of this mountain. I'll teach you how to get your justice."

Bruce takes the paper, pocketing it, and turns away. "I'll think about it."

They both already know he's accepted.


	3. 3

**3.** _  
_

_The prince worked for the old man for seven years, collecting odds and ends from all over the world, from all kinds of folk, poor and rich alike. He did not ask what the old man did with them for he knew the old man had some magic, but he wondered all the same._

_At the end of seven years, the old man told him, "Dear boy, you have done all that I asked without complaint or question and you shall have what was promised you. But before you go, I have one more task for you. Make your way to the fortress. They have taken something most dear from me. It is in the tallest tower, wrapped in rags. Return it, but do not look upon it, and I shall not only give you your freedom and justice, but shall reward you most handsomely."_

_The prince accepted, for he respected the old man, and went at once. It was no small feat, but he was clever, and made to retrieve the item from the tower._

_An old guard tried to stop him, but no sooner had the prince turned to strike him down, than he stopped in horror for he knew the old guard, who had once watched him from childhood._

_"Oh my prince, what wickedness has ensnared you?" the old guard begged. "Do you not know what you take from here? It is the Great Dark One's most prized possession, a blade bearing his true name. Whoever holds it, holds power over him, for it alone has the power to kill him."_

_The prince at once opened the bundle of rags and found a blade. Upon it was the true name of the old man, the Demon King, and he cried out in horror at how he had been tricked into working for such evil ends._

* * *

It's a year or two before Bruce realizes what he's gotten himself into.

Ra's is generous and patient with him, at first, and keeps him away from the other students in the mountain base. He trains him personally and lets few others interact with him. It is made clear that Bruce is a favored protégé and, though it bothers him a little, he becomes used to it quickly.

Ra's is a good teacher and Bruce has a purpose now. He's being groomed to be the greatest crimefighter the world has ever seen.

But then, things begin to change.

Slowly, Ra's starts sending him out with the others: small missions at first, retrieving and relocating items and money. Then the items become people, and the deliveries are no longer threats, but violence, and he realizes that this is not the place he thought it was.

Ra's assures him they are criminals and that this is justice, but Bruce still has a nagging feeling that something isn't right.

He thinks, perhaps, that it's time for him to move on.

"It's a pity you feel that way, Bruce," Ra's says. "But, tell you what, if you do this one last little thing for me, I'll let you go with my blessing."

He parts the curtain, revealing Joe Chill on his knees, and hands Bruce his personal sword.

"Kill him and claim justice for your parents."


	4. 4

**4.** _  
_

_The prince knew that he must make amends for his actions. He returned at once to the mountain and brought the blade to the old man._

_"You have served me well, dear boy. You are free," the old man said. "But before I give you your reward, you must answer me one question truthfully."_

_"As you wish," said the prince._

_"Dear boy, did you look inside the rags?" the old man asked._

_"Yes, I did," said the prince and plunged the blade into the old man's heart. "Here your evil and all the horror you have wrought ends."_

_But the old man merely laughed as he lay dying. "Foolish boy, don't you know what you have done? You would have been free and I would have given you the greatest of treasures as I might a son, but now this curse that was my fate is yours!"_

_With a clap of thunder, the old man died and the prince arose, forever transformed._

_And that was how the lost prince became the Great Dark One._

* * *

Bruce doesn't know why or when or even how he made the decision and, in some distant part of his mind, he is screaming that Ra's is right, that this man he's trying to save is the man who killed his parents in cold blood, and that he should kill him because it's his right. But it doesn't matter, because the second he refuses to kill him and raises that sword to prevent Ra's from doing it to prove a point, he becomes an enemy of the house of al Ghul and he now has to fight if he wants to live beyond today.

"You fool!" Ra's howls at him, enraged. "You would have been as my flesh and blood! I would have made you a prince in the League of Shadows!"

"You would have made me a murderer," Bruce counters, blocking, "No better than him."

And then Ra's smiles cruelly and intentionally steps into a strike that should have only wounded him. The blade slides through his flesh cleanly as Bruce can only watch in horror while his momentum drives the blade all the way in. "Go back to Gotham, boy. You may cling to your moral superiority as much as you wish," Ra's hisses, clutching at him and drawing him closer with inhuman strength, "But you and I will both know the truth. You are a shadow."

Ra's eyes then roll back into his head, his breath stopping.

It takes all his effort to wrest free and, badly shaken, Bruce flees.

But the blood does not come off his hands.


	5. 5

**5.** _  
_

_Many years passed and the prince was forgotten. But in those years, he learned many things of his curse and the power he now held over the darkness. He found that he could use those powers to take his vengeance upon all those that had destroyed his kingdom and it made him happy, for now his parents would truly be avenged._

_He left the mountain and, one-by-one, hunted them down, turning all the powers of the darkness upon them until they begged for mercy and returned his kingdom to him. But when all those men had finally paid for their treason, the prince found that he was not satisfied._

_Saddened, he left the palace and wandered through every street, until he came to tavern. Inside, there were many men crowded to one side and but one single man on the other._

_"What ho, who is that?" the prince asked._

_"Leave him be, master. He is a murderer and thief," one man said._

_"How do you know this?" the prince asked._

_A second man said, "Oh, but we have all seen it with our own eyes."_

_"Then should he not be punished?" the prince asked._

_"Aye," the first man said. "But the guards will not do it, for he took their sons and daughters, and were they to act, he'd do them harm."_

_"That is not fair," the prince said._

_"Aye," the men said, "but that is the way of things."_

_"That way is no more, men. You shall have justice," the prince said and, at once, threw off his cloak. He cursed the villain then and there with a terrible fate befitting his crimes, but it did not satisfy him longer than a single moment. He immediately hungered for more._

_And so he went into the world, seeking out all those that had been wronged and left without justice._

* * *

As Batman, Bruce finds a sort of strange peace with himself. He cannot erase what has happened, but he can make amends and, perhaps more importantly, prevent another child from going through what he had.

Joe Chill has paid for his crime, a fact which leaves him with no satisfaction.

Vengeance and justice, as he has come to learn, are two very different things and Batman must be more justice than vengeance if he is ever to change this city. Gotham has more than its fair share of criminals left unpunished and it is easy enough to soon find a comfortable medium between extremes, one that criminals will not forget and the police will forgive him for employing.

Always, though, he embraces terror and uses it as his ally in the night, bearing down and crushing his enemies in spirit. It thrills him, sometimes, in the way they react, screaming and running from him, as if he were their personal fury come to devour them.

As Bruce, he was a powerless child. As Batman, he is powerful, and it is becoming harder and harder to separate himself from the cowl.

"Master Bruce, your arm," Alfred warns him. "You should be resting."

"I can't," Bruce says, even as he watches the monitors in the cave. "Someone needs to protect these people."

"I believe the police can handle this for one night," Alfred says, sternly.

Bruce ignores him.

Batman is needed.


	6. 6

**6.** _  
_

_In time, many people came to fear the prince, for the cost of justice was always high and all magic came with a price, magic born of darkness most especially of all._

_But that did not stop him, as his thirst for justice was unquenchable._

_It was then that he met the boy._

* * *

Batman is more than an urban legend now. Batman is a terrifying reality of Gotham, implacable and absolute, and he is watching, always.

Bruce loves it.

The way in which he's maneuvered himself and pressured certain crime rings is forcing the major crime families to sit up and pay attention. He's been watching them for weeks and noting the movements. There's a shakedown in leadership coming up in the Falcone family, maybe soon, and rumors that they might expand their territories. Smaller players like Zucco might get eliminated if they're unable to deal with the aggressive Falcone's plans for expansion.

And when they move, he'll be there to take them down.

But first, he must be elsewhere. There are some acts in the name of justice that only Bruce Wayne can do and this charity event is one such act.

He sighs, adjusts his tie, and picks up the program for Haly's International Circus.


	7. 7

**7.** _  
_

_"What brings you here, boy?" the prince asked._

_"I want justice," the boy said. "My parents were good and kind. A terrible man killed them and now goes unpunished. I cannot pay in coin, but my hands are steady and I shall work as long as I must to repay you, oh Great Dark One."_

_"Then you may yet work forever," the prince said._

_"So be it," the boy said and the bargain was struck._

_He sent the boy to work at once, fetching the tools of his magic from all over the world and sending him to deliver the results of his craft. In this way, he schooled the boy in the art of justice and the dark magic that sustained him, though it did scare the boy terribly. But the prince was not without some pity. He gave the boy many fine things, silks and damasks, and sometimes indulged him in childish games, all for which the boy was most grateful and thanked him._

_More and more, the boy began to smile in his presence._

_And little by little, the prince learned to smile once more._

* * *

Bruce did not expect to be a father, he realizes that now. But, somehow, he is and it's a hair-raising, often confusing adventure in awkwardness and a strange sort of camaraderie.

It takes a year before he's really fully used to seeing the boy in his house.

It takes months for Dick to find the Batcave.

But it took him all of five minutes to work his way into Bruce's heart.

The boy is kind and strange and wonderful in so many ways. Sometimes, he is joy and fearlessness and sometimes he is nothing but fear and misery.

Dick is, in many ways, a lot like himself. It's true, they're linked by the common tragedy of losing their families to murder and the desire for justice, but Dick is different. His family was different. And, this time, Bruce is there to control and guide the damage this child has endured away from those dark paths he once chose to tread. He doesn't want the blood on his hands to stain Dick.

He teaches him everything he knows, molding Robin out of Dick from the very sawdust of the center ring, and tries to be better, a little more human, a little less Batman for him.

It's not easy, though, not by far.

Bruce doesn't understand how to be a parent, more often than not, and Dick doesn't always know how to approach him either. They make mistakes and tempers flare more often than not.

But seeing him smile is worth it.

It's the only time he truly feels happy.


	8. 8

**8.** _  
_

_For many years, the prince continued to bring justice to the land with the boy at his side. The prince had come to love the boy as his own son and he wanted for nothing but his son's happiness. He doted upon the boy with all manner of lavish things and punished all those that brought harm to the boy or wished him injury._

_But this only saddened the boy._

_Time and again, the prince tried to cheer him, but of no avail, for the boy only became more distant._

_At a loss, the prince fashioned a doll in the likeness of a boy from an old yew tree and brought it to life with his magic._

_"Surely, this shall mend his heart!" the prince said._

* * *

The criminals are getting wilder, more dangerous, less sane. And it's getting harder and harder to let the boy who has become his son in all but the flesh go into danger.

But Dick isn't a little boy any more. He's coming into his own, both as a superhero and a teenager, and as much as he adores Bruce, he is starting to chafe under the authority.

Bruce notices it most clearly off the field, when their lives aren't on the line. It's a grimace here, a roll of the eyes there, and a huff of disagreement as his back is turned. It's the little things Dick fights him on that he wouldn't before and it's frustrating.

Half the time, Dick is driving him up the walls, but Bruce can't, - won't take it out on him: it's the criminals that feel it, instead. Bruce knows that it worries Dick and makes him fight Bruce even harder on the point of restraint (he's not slipping, he's not, he's still in control), but he needs to get it out of his system somewhere. He's afraid of what he might do if he doesn't and, god help him, Dick's his son – he doesn't want to hurt him. All he wants is for Dick to be safe and happy.

And yet…

It's not always bad. They still play pickup games and watch movies. And when they do, it's for one moment like the world is perfect again and he can pretend that maybe he is just a normal civilian dad with his son, no worries about Gotham or the Justice League or those missing hours to haunt him.

Then, there was Jason.


	9. 9

**9.** _  
_

_For a time, things were as they once were and the boy was happy with his new brother. And such a strange new boy he was!_

_The Little Yew Boy was tough and strong and unfailingly kind, but he was also terribly innocent and fell into all sorts of mischief without meaning to. And so it was that he was always being rescued from some adventure or another._

_"You should be more careful, my brother," the boy told him, "Or the prince shall be mad and return you to kindling before you can become real."_

_"Fiddlesticks!" the Little Yew Boy said. "I am as real as you or he."_

_And the Little Yew Boy went out to play._

_Days passed and he did not return. The boy searched high and low, but none had seen him, and so, with a heart heavy in dread, he returned to the prince and told him everything._

* * *

Jason comes into their lives unexpectedly, just as Dick's cutting his teeth on the new Nightwing identity. He's a street kid, full of spunk, and, arguably, has more guts than sense.

Bruce first spots him tailing them a few weeks before Dick makes the switch. It's a shadow, gangly and more burglar than martial artist, that hangs a little too long in their six and slowly inches up on them. Then, after Dick switches to his new suit and it's clear to the media that Robin is not returning, he starts getting reports of a boy dressed as Robin, stopping petty crimes in the Crime Alley area.

It doesn't take long to find the kid. He's not exactly shy and he's even less shy about voicing his opinions. He also kicks like a mule.

Dick immediately takes a shine to him.

Bruce wants to say no, he does, but Dick is happy and engaging with the younger boy and Jason needs guidance and looks so happy in the Robin suit, like he's finally found where he belongs. He's a good kid, too, and honest to god trying to help others, even if he hits a little too hard.

How can Bruce refuse?

But, when all is said and done, Jason is not Dick and it's not easy, not in the least. Things that worked with Dick don't with Jason and some nights it feels like Bruce can do nothing right between the pair of them. Other times, the world just seems to slide into place and Bruce doesn't know what to do because he's never felt happier.

Then, one night, while he is away on League business, Jason goes off on his own and he doesn't come home.

"You need to come back," Dick says. "It's the Joker. He has Jason."

The world shatters.


	10. 10

**10.** _  
_

_The prince set out at once to search for the wayward boy. He searched the entire land, but all he could find was a pile of sticks and the Little Yew Boy's clothes. The rest had been burnt to ashes._

_So it was that the Little Yew Boy died and, with him, so too did the prince's kindness. He grew crueler and crueler still, punishing all those that wronged him or dared to harm his remaining son with increasing horrors. And again, the boy grew sad._

_One day, the prince and his son came to a town. None would open their hearths to them, for all knew the prince as the Great Dark One, bringer of vengeance, and so he cursed them._

_At once, the boy wept._

_"What ails you so?" the prince asked. "They refused us hospitality. Was that not unjust?"_

_"Have you let what you have become consume you so utterly? Their only crime was to fear you and they have paid for it most terribly," the boy said. "Truly, that is unjust."_

_The prince did not understand, for he had so long brought justice to the land that he had become blind to the very nature of the darkness and, in so doing, lost sight of the cruelty he wrought. And, try as he might to assure the boy he had merely been acting to protect him, the boy remained unconvinced._

_"You were not always thus. Swear to stop or I shall leave to-morrow," the boy said._

_The prince did not want his son to leave, so he promised to stop his vengeful ways. Alas, he could not do so, for the darkness in his heart was too strong and the world was full of wicked men to punish._

_The boy, greatly saddened, disappeared._

_Only when the prince was at last alone, did he realize what he had lost._

* * *

He was too late to save Jason. There was nothing anyone could have done to change that fact. Even if he had been faster or if there had been no bomb, Jason would still have died of his injuries.

Bruce knows that.

But, he still blames himself.

He keeps thinking in what-ifs and if-onlys, in a way he hasn't done since his parents were killed. What if he had not left that night? Would Jason still have gone off on his own? If only he had left better instructions for Dick, if only he had set stricter limitations for Jason, if only Dick had gone with him… It's a never-ending litany of could-have-been scenarios that doesn't make the pain any less real.

So, he does what he has always done: Bruce goes out, lets the black fury in his soul seize him and he fights, exacting his pound of flesh from the underbelly of Gotham while the man he wishes to kill, the Joker, laughs in Arkham. More and more criminals end up the hospitals, their bodies a map of pain he has inflicted upon them, and more and more, Dick begins to grow distant and combative again.

Jason is like a wound, open and oozing, between them, never mentioned but ever present.

One night, Bruce calls for backup. It's a low-level bagman, one hardly even registering on the radar of bigger fishes, but the guy's supposedly overheard some things about Two-Face's operation and he's got just enough training and height to be an issue even for Batman. It's supposed to be simple: rough him up a little, scare him into talking, and suggest he find employment on the straight and narrow. No one else is supposed to be there.

The man's wife and kid are there when he smashes through the window and pummels the man into the wall.

"Stop it! STOP!" Nightwing says, grabbing his wrist and pulling it back. "Goddamn it, look at yourself!"

In the corner, there is a boy, screaming and crying as his mother shields him with the whole of her body. Glass shards litter the ground, pearlescent in the light and marred only by slashes of cast-off blood. His reflection glares at him from the shards, a horrible shadow of death perched upon the chest of a man with a bloodied face.

"He's a criminal," Bruce says.

"If you can't see what's wrong here, then there's no point in me explaining it," Dick says harshly and leaps back into the window frame. "I'm out of here. I'm done."

It's the last time he sees Dick. He is not at home when Bruce gets back.

Nightwing disappears.

And Bruce feels his heart break all over again.


	11. 11

**11.** _  
_

_The prince, try as he might, could not bring his son home again. In this, all his powers were useless, and so he sought out the greatest of the fair folk._

_"Your son lies beyond the reach of darkness," she told him. "The way to him will open when you open your heart and no sooner."_

_"Would that I could leave behind the curse that poisons my heart, I could be reunited with him to-morrow!" the prince lamented._

_The fairy was kind and took pity on him. "That, I can do. But it will cost you dearly, for all things have their price, and you will have but one chance to make amends."_

_"Name it and I shall pay," the prince said._

_The fairy told him and the bargain was struck._

* * *

Bruce doesn't stop looking for Dick.

Others try to help, ask him to see a therapist – or, barring that, talk to Black Canary – and say that they'll keep an eye out for his wayward son. He doesn't really want their help or their concern. He just wants his son back.

Dick is one of the only people he has left in the world that he truly calls family and it's killing him that he can't find him anywhere. It kills him to smile to cameras as a civilian and say that Dick's at a prestigious private boarding school somewhere, just as badly as it kills him to talk to Young Justice and say Dick is on a mission.

It keeps him up at night, wide-eyed and frowning as all the possible scenarios churn in his head (what-if, what-if, what-if), and his lack of sleep and moodiness are showing.

Criminals are no longer being beat half to death every night, but some that wouldn't normally slip away are and it hasn't gone unnoticed. They're getting bolder, harsher, and crueler. He has to step up his game.

Years pass.

He still doesn't stop looking.


	12. 12

**12.** _  
_

_Many years passed._

_One day, a man came to meet the lonely prince._

_"Do I know you, sir?" the prince asked. "You seem familiar."_

_The man smiled._

* * *

It's strange when it happens and, at first, Bruce doesn't know what it means. One shadow lingers a little too long behind him one night. Then it's two nights, three nights, and he wonders if he's imagining it. Maybe he's finally losing his mind.

But then the others start mentioning fleeting glimpses of a shadow, something that lingers too long in their periphery, and he wonders.

Could it be that Dick's finally forgiven him?

Bruce hopes so. He's missed him so much because things were better when Dick was here - he was better and the world was right. There's so much he wants to say, to apologize for.

But, he has to wait, let Dick approach him.

He doesn't want to scare him off.

At last, he finally spots him: an inky silhouette of a grown man against the darkness. For a moment, he thinks the man is too big, but then he recalls how long it's been and that Dick is no longer a teenager.

"You haven't lost your touch," the man says and vanishes.

It's Dick, it has to be.

And then the bodies start to appear.


	13. 13

**13.** _  
_

_"Are you, perhaps, my son, lost so long ago?" the prince asked._

_The man said not a word, but still smiled._

_"You are! You must be!" the prince said and embraced him._

_In his joy, he did not notice that the man was made of yew._

* * *

Bruce stands across from him, this Red Hood, and for the first time, he wonders how he ever missed it. Yes, he's around the right age and build, even has the right hair color, but this man isn't Dick at all. That much is blatantly obvious now. But the things he knows – how to shadow him, the way he cuts the lines, how he fights, how he moves, the fact that he even knows Bruce's name – there's no mistaking it. This man knows them, knows everything about them, and he's even familiar, but if he isn't Dick, then he must be...

It's impossible, though.

And yet…

"Why?" he asks.

"You're so consumed with your guilt that you saw what you wanted to see," the Red Hood says. "All I had to do was let you fill in the blanks."

It's true. Bruce had wanted him to be Dick, wanted it so bad.

"Tell me," the Red Hood says, "Do I even look like him?"

* * *

_Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince who lost his way and fell to darkness._

_Once upon a time, there was a boy who lost his father and brother._

_Once upon a time, there was puppet who became a boy._

_Once upon a time…_


End file.
